


Fearful of the night

by orphan_account



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Spoilers, lmao author just heard the finale please forgive if it's terrible, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 13:03:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5457437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doug keeps talking for a few seconds, even after the connection's cut. It's what he does; in a crisis, he can tinker and talk his way out of anything. Well, most things. Definitely some things. Probably not this, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fearful of the night

Doug keeps talking for a few seconds, even after the connection's cut. It's what he does; in a crisis, he can tinker and talk his way out of anything. Well, most things. Definitely some things. Probably not this, though. 

The thing about being out of contact is that he's rendered useless. He's no tools to work with, and the schematics for the ship were always approximate at best. And now they've been blown up, which just about does for any use he might have made of them. 

“Do you think it could get any worse?” He asks aloud. “Maybe have the plant monster in here with me somehow? A couple of spiders for flavour?” 

The comms panel is battered but intact, and utterly useless. Hilbert said that the pod was accelerating - by now he could have doubled the space between himself and the Hephaestus with ease. He'd love to do some shit like Matt Damon did in The Martian, jimmy the comms system so that it can miraculously transmit home, but it's pointless. Get it to somehow reach back, and he'll be out of range again seconds later.

He might as well just depressurise the pod now and be done with it - he's dead where he stands, even if his body hasn't yet gotten the memo.

He's a zombie twice over by his count. Nice. 

Funny thing, but of all the bullshit that he  _thought_ was going to kill him, this is almost an anti-climax. No coughing up blood, no being swallowed up by the star, no. He doesn't even warrant getting shot in the back by a crazed Russian scientist. James Bond would have, and Doug's cooler than that guy. He's in _space_. He regularly stops space stations from _blowing up_. Bond never even got close to a mutant plant monster, and he got equipment that  _wasn't_ held together using duct tape. Doug's winning this contest by miles

On the other hand, he also has the enviable choice of starving to death, dehydrating until he hallucinates and dies, or suffocating. It all depends on how fucked the life support systems are.

The answer, as far as Doug can tell without Hera to help out, is surprisingly un-fucked. Well, that or the sensors which monitor the systems were also fucked. Who knows? He'll find out when he starts choking on carbon dioxide.

-

There's actually a book on board, believe it or not. A source of entertainment in the featureless void of space. Something to relieve the mind-numbing boredom for minutes at a time.

It's Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Protocol Manual, because the Universe wanted to make it extra clear that it hates him and wants him to suffer before he dies. What's worse is that it's a years older edition than the one Minkowski's always riding his ass about. Not only bullshit, but out of date bullshit!

... Who's he kidding? He'd give pretty much anything to hear Minkowski bust him over being a lazy good-for-nothing. His firstborn. His left foot. Hilbert's left foot. He's not picky.

-

When he gets back - ha, yeah, anyway. Right. When he gets back, Doug is going to fall down onto his hands and knees to  _beg_ for Hera's forgiveness. They were going to leave her behind. He and Minkowski were just going to up and leave to save their own skins and let Hera stay behind. 

It's barely four days in and he's already one inch from just stepping outside into space to escape his own head.

Selfish of him to wish that Hera  _could_ have fitted aboard, just to have company, but there you go. No dice.

The stars wheel by endlessly. Fun fact about space - once you get going, you keep going. There's nothing to stop the pod, no friction or resistance to slow it. He'll just keep belting through space until he's dragged into the nearest star and incinerated. Momentum's a bitch, and she doesn't let go easy.

-

The thing is... There's an alternative. An honest to god way out of the situation and means of staying alive. The cryo chamber is intact, it's got power. It should, in fact, keep him alive indefinitely. And even if it doesn't, chances are he'll die during cryosleep so he won't even feel it! Which is a hell of a bright side to be looking on. In deep space, though, he'll take what light he can get. 

Ever heard the phrase 'I'll sleep when I'm dead'?

Doug's found a new appreciation for it recently. It's the reason that he hasn't jumped into the pod and slept his way the fuck outta dodge - once he goes under, he might as well be dead until someone wakes him up. And unless someone finds him, he'll never wake up. So maybe he's saving his life, or maybe he's committing unwitting suicide. 

So... He's ignoring it for now, and doing what he does best: procrastinating an incredibly important decision while watching space go by.

Doug sighs, and lets uncharted and unknown territory pass him by.

“Where no man has gone before,” He says aloud. Leans back against the wall. 

He used to have trouble falling asleep when he was younger. Something about the idea of just turning his own head off that made him nervous and stressed whenever he had to think about it. Then he got  _actual_ problems, and things like that got left behind in trying to deal with everything else. Now, lucky him, his every need is being met. Technically. Man, but he'd thought this would be like the Hephaestus. An emergency every day, no time to worry about boredom. Nah. The thing runs itself.

Which leaves him trying to avoid the obvious, looming presence of the cryo pod, and wondering whether he'll ever switch back on again. 

He's got time. 

At least, until the virus in him starts trying to kill him again. That would be a lame way to go after all this. Does the virus get shut down by cryo too? Hell, it better, or he's so screwed.

He can figure it out eventually.

Just not right now.


End file.
